1. ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Development and Integration Process Philippe Schoonejans, Head of Robotics and Future Projects Office ESA Human Spaceflight and Operations EU Call 2014 Life Support – provide healthy living environment and food production Habitat Management – safe and reliable quality control of indoor environment

2. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 2 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The start of the development activities What are the first steps for developing a technology experiment for flight on ISS? 1.Find out what the ISS is and what facilities it has to offer 2.Find out what services / interfaces exist (power, data, communications, …) 3.Limit the needed crew time to an absolute minimum for repetitive tasks (but on the other side, avoid making extremely sophisticated mechanisms that need to be operated only few times) 4.Find out the rules and regulations which must be followed (safety, not mess up other equipment, data security, …) 5.Find out what has to be done to demonstrate this! Then develop the payload (= all what is launched to ISS) Step by step, go through all the motions!

3. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 3 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process How to start – The Experiment Scientific Requirement (ESR) document  First step for the integration of an experiment on the ISS is the definition of the Experiment Scientific Requirement (ESR) document.  The ESR defines the scientific requirements of the experiment, including as well operational requirements. The ESR defines what the Principal Investigator (PI)/sponsor intends to do on the ISS, the performance of the instruments, any operational requirements and the output required by the PI for the assessment of the results of the experiment in orbit.  The ESR is generated by the experiment PI/Sponsor, but it is then reviewed and approved by the teams which will develop the necessary hardware, and will integrate and operate the hardware on the ISS.  ESR review by developer team and integration/operation team is necessary to ensure that what requested by PI/sponsor is technically feasible and operable on ISS.

4. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 4 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process How to start – The beginning of the development and integration work  Upon receipt of baseline ESR, the development team start the development work, elaborating key information as:  Schedule, including reviews and model delivery dates  Technical data as mass, volume, power consumption,…  Upon receipt of baseline ESR and key development data, the integration and operation team also start the integration work, determining:  Possible time period for experiment performance (Increment)  Possible launchers and return vehicles  Need for unique launch/return conditions (e.g. late access, cold transportation  Operational scenario, critical requirements  Interface with ISS modules, racks, facilities.

5. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 5 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The first steps – What has to be considered for the development  Schedule – need to start early  Mass to fly to ISS – very limited  Crew time on board – very limited  Use of ISS resources (power, data, …)  Training of crew: to install, operate and uninstall your payload / technology demo / experiment  A user operations centre (USOC) will operate the payload  Specific Columbus requirements (SPE-164 for an experiment inside Columbus, SPE-165 for an experiment outside Columbus).  ICDs for the various facilities (Biolab, EDR, EDR2, FLS, EPM, etc)  Generic space requirements  Vibration, thermal/thermal vacuum, off-gassing, …  Operability (without too much training)  Safety

6. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 6 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The Development Reviews  For the EU technology demos the following reviews are planned:  requirements review (before development)  design review (during development)  review to check that all is OK (after development)  final readiness review  crew review (for payloads operated by astronauts)  For these reviews, documentation is to be provided to show the readiness to go into the next phase with acceptable risk (minimum doc set but still quite some work)  At the kick-off of these reviews, the PI/sponsors are asked to present what you have done so far and what is in the documentation  Reviewers will ask for clarifications and for problems they find they will raise comments for decision

7. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 7 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The Development Reviews  Review objectives are established for each review and the documentation delivered is reviewed against those  In general reviewers are external to the Project  Safety is always involved  The ISS integration authorities are involved from a certain point onwards  Objectives and requirements related to the purpose of the project are defined by the project – it is the PI/sponsor project!  ESA provides the requirements related to safety, security, the ISS, etc  ESA will assess whether the presented design will work, in terms of technical feasibility and operability  The Project has to resolve the discrepancies/issues identified

8. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 8 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The first steps – The Feasibility Assessment  Based on inputs from Development team and integration/operation team, a Feasibility Assessment is performed at regular interval (monthly).  18 months prior to increment start, the Feasibility Assessment consider the level of readiness of the known experiments and identifies those experiments which can be performed in the increment under evaluation.  The Feasibility Assessment assesses the known information and the complexity of integration, identifies data still missing, and estimates a credible planning (increment) when the experiment can be reliably performed.

9. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 9 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The first steps – The Feasibility Assessment  Additionally, the Feasibility Assessment ensures that the complement of experiments foreseen for a given increment fits within the ESA allocation and that each increment has a correct balance amongst all disciplines.  All parties involved in the experiment participate to the Feasibility Assessment, contribute with inputs to the work of the Feasibility Assessment and jointly concur on the level of readiness and possible increment for experiment execution in orbit.

10. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 10 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The Increment definition  An “increment” is a period of operation of the ISS of about 3 months  12 months prior to increment starts, the Feasibility Assessment presents to the ESA Joint Mission Management Team (J-MMT) the results of the work, and presents the set of activities for the increment (the “complement”)  Upon J-MMT approval of the Feasibility Assessment proposal, that experiment complement is documented into the ESA-IOT Increment Requirement Document (IRD) and the NASA Increment Definition and Requirement Document (IDRD) and the increment responsibility is transferred to the ESA Mission Director (MD)

11. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 11 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The flow of early activities ESR draft Review by development team Review by integration/ops team ESR baseline Start of development activities Start of integration/ops activities Definition of preliminary key technical data Definition of preliminary key integration/ops data Feasibility Assessment Definition Of Increment PI/Sponsor Increment complement to J- MMT and baseline

12. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 12 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process The Integration and Development Steps

13. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 13 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process Who is helping the process  Upon receipt of the baseline ESR, the ESA contractor (IOT) assigns a Payload Integration Manager (PIM). The PIM has the role of coordinating all inputs, facilitate communication between the various teams and guide the integration process.  The PIM is a key person in guiding the PI/Sponsor trough the complex integration and operation processes. The PIM is knowledgeable on the numerous requirements and be contacted for help and support.  The PIM main task is to elaborate an experiment integrated schedule, which documents all deliverables and time of their availability. Through this schedule, the PIM ensures the consistency and coherency of all tasks and assesses the feasibility of the experiment.

14. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 14 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Experiment Integration Process Who is helping the process  Also, upon receipt of the baseline ESR, ESA assigns a Users Support and Operation Centre (USOC). The USOC has the responsibility of preparing the operations and the necessary operational products (e.g. procedures) as well as following the on orbit operation during experiment execution. Ground model of the experiment is located at USOC to support engineering activities in case of troubleshooting.  THERE IS A LOT OF WORK BUT YOU ARE NOT LEFT ON YOUR OWN

15. Experiment Integartion Process | Slide 15 ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Official Use Links Technical Requirements for ISS payloads are collected in the: European User Guide to Low Gravity Platforms The Document is publically available on-line in the www.esa.int website: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Human_Spaceflight _Research/European_User_Guide_to_Low-Gravity_Platforms